The challenge excited me. The finished product would be rewarding. I would learn a ton. But most importantly, I would have my own set of wheels.

These were the thoughts running through my mind as that rusty old piece of scrap metal was finally unloaded into our garage. My newly acquired 1966 Austin Healey was in rough shape. I knew getting that thing running would be quite the challenge, but boy was that an understatement.

Shortly after commencement, discoveries of janky modifications, and botched attempts at body repair were added to my long list of things to fix. Already on that list was fuel system replacement, body panel repair, complete interior rebuild, engine troubleshooting, refurbishing the suspension, replace the brakes… and on and on and on. Everything.

Hours and hours of work later, I have only scratched the surface. Did you know it takes about four hours to clean three square feet of body panelling? And that’s only if it’s not dented. Now the Austin Healey might be stripped down to the chassis and the engine might run, but she is far from road-worthy. I expect to spend many more long hours in that garage until she is.